


phantom thief

by jified



Category: Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 04:08:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14252733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jified/pseuds/jified
Summary: you thought you might be a ghost // you didn’t get to heaven but you made it closeAres’s house is being haunted, and he’s determined to find out by just what – or who.





	phantom thief

 

There is somebody in Ares’s house, and he doesn’t know who it is.

 

“I’m serious,” he tells Seliph over dinner, and Seliph just giggles. Ares glares, but Seliph just grins at him, bright and cheerful. It’s like the sun beams out of his mouth sometimes, and Ares’s scowl just deepens. “Seliph, someone is living inside my house.”

 

“Well, clearly,” Seliph says. He sounds deeply amused by this. “If you weren’t living inside your own house, I’d be worried.”

 

“I am not talking about myself and you know that,” Ares snarls. Seliph’s eyebrows raise, and along with them, his hands. He waves them placatingly, smiling that godawful disarming smile that never fails to calm Ares, and goddamnit it’s working again.

 

“Now, now, let’s calm down and think about this rationally,” Seliph soothes.

 

“I am thinking about this rationally!”

 

“Ares, the last time you said that, you ended up inside the water fountain,” Seliph reminds him. Ares flushes stark red, unwillingly recalling the incident far too well. He swats at Seliph’s arm.

 

“I thought we agreed never to bring that up again,” he hisses.

 

“I don’t recall,” Seliph says.

 

“Die.”

 

“If I do, maybe there really will be a ghost haunting you,” Seliph snorts. It takes Ares a second to process the words, and then red comes back all too fast, and Ares is fuming again.

 

“I never said it was a ghost,” he grits out. Seliph raises an eyebrow.

 

“Well,” he shrugs, “You were obviously thinking it.”

 

“You don’t know that,” Ares rebuts, huffing as he crosses his arms. He leans back in his chair. “Maybe I thought that someone was secretly living inside my basement, or something.”

 

“Either way, it wouldn’t be long until they became a ghost, huh,” Seliph comments wryly. Ares stares at him.

 

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” he says, slowly, clearly. Even though what Seliph is saying is true and Ares should probably just snort and say, “Damn right,” or something like that. Except that Ares is no longer a teenager and he’s mature now and clearly above all this childish nonsense.

 

“You know I’m right,” Seliph says, and oh, Ares does, but he is an adult, damnit. “You’re no fun anymore.”

 

“I was never fun,” Ares sniffs.

 

“The water fountain thing happened literally three weeks ag- “

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

 

“No fun,” Seliph pouts. Then he straightens again, a gleam in his eye, and Ares warily leans back. “Though,” Seliph starts, stretching out the word teasingly, and Ares bites back a snappy insult. “You do suspect that there’s a ghost living in your house, so I guess you’ve still got a bit left in you!”

 

“The ghost is real, okay!” Ares blurts out, slamming the table with a fist. Cutlery jump and plates wobble; Seliph’s glass of water almost topples over but the man saves it in time. Ares draws back, a wave of embarrassment at his outburst washing over him, and he averts his gaze.

 

Seliph sighs.

 

“Calm down, Ares,” he says. “Ghosts don’t exist, remember?”

 

“Okay, whatever, but all my shit keeps moving around,” Ares whines. Seliph listens patiently, like the saint he is. “And the window keeps breaking and the lights keep flickering an- “

 

“Jeez, okay,” Seliph raises an eyebrow. “So, hypothetically speaking, y’know, if there was a ghost…”

 

“There is,” Ares insists, and Seliph just nods, even though Ares can tell his heart isn’t in it. Seliph wears his feelings on his sleeve, and while at times it’s infuriating, at others it is incredibly convenient.

 

“Okay, okay, there is,” Seliph tells Ares like he’s speaking to a child, and Ares glares. “Stop glaring, you big baby. Anyway, if there is, then what are you going to do about it?”

 

“Well,” Ares starts, then pauses. “I,” he says. “Uh. Haven’t thought that far, yet.” He admits reluctantly, and a hint of embarrassment seeps through.

 

“Always focused on the thing in front of you, huh,” Seliph snorts. He tilts his head. “What about an exorcism, maybe?”

 

“What the fuck,” Ares replies eloquently.

 

“Hey, it’s you who thinks it’s a ghost!” Seliph defends, raising his hands up in surrender. “I’m just throwing out suggestions here!”

 

“Seriously though?” Ares asks. “An exorcism?”

 

“Like, what else is there,” Seliph raises an eyebrow. “You want to move out or something?”

 

“I’m broke,” Ares says. “And the rent is cheap.”

 

“Because it’s haunted, obviously.”

 

“What happened to “silly Ares, ghosts don’t exist”, huh?”

 

“I’m just being open-minded,” Seliph says. “Anyway, my house has enough space fo- “

 

“I’m not going to freeload off you,” Ares bites out. Seliph goes silent, for a moment.

 

“It’s not freeloading, Ares,” he says eventually. “I’d really enjoy it if yo- “

 

“No, and that’s final,” Ares says firmly. There’s a pause, a brief second where time stands still, then Seliph sighs as he stands up.

 

“Of course, Ares,” he says, and picks up his empty plate and cutlery. “Of course.”

 

“H-Hey,” Ares stutters, backtracking as he stares at Seliph’s upset expression. “I-I didn’t mean- “

 

“I know, I know,” Seliph returns, voice back to soothing, and Ares’s shoulders which he didn’t even realise had tensed now relax. And then Seliph smiles, and Ares can’t help but smile back. “Stubborn idiot,” Seliph teases.

 

“You’re the idiot here,” Ares mumbles, and Seliph just smiles brighter. Ares leans in. Seliph closes his bright blue eyes, and hot breath brushes over Ares’s lips-

 

Somewhere in the house, a window shatters and breaks.

 

Both Ares and Seliph jump, and Seliph almost loses his grip on the plates if not for Ares steadying his hands at the last moment. They stare in the direction of the noise, eyes wide.

 

“Well,” Seliph murmurs. “I think I know what you’re talking about now.”

 

“Yeah,” Ares says, and swallows.

 

 

“Are we seriously doing this,” Ares asks. Seliph blinks wide eyes at him, innocent and pure in all the ways Ares knows he isn’t.

 

“What else?” Seliph asks, cocking his head. “You already agreed to the exorcism thing, don’t go back on your word now.”

 

Ares just stares, silent, at Seliph’s computer screen. _how to exorcise ghost_ is typed clearly into the search bar, Seliph’s finger hovering just above the enter button, paused from when Ares interrupted.

 

“…Nevermind,” he says, and Seliph beams as he presses the search into Google. Various sites show up, all seeming extremely dubious, but Ares didn’t really expect anything more. “Just don’t use Buzzf- oh, god, why are you going to Wikihow- “

 

“Wikihow’s helped me a lot,” Seliph insists, which is something Ares never thought he’d hear coming out of someone who graduated college with honours, but now is hearing. Ares is… mildly disgusted.

 

“Exit that page right now,” Ares orders. Seliph ignores him and starts scrolling. “Seliph.”

 

“Says here that you need to know when an exorcism is needed,” Seliph continues, unheeding of Ares’s words. “Take an honest appraisal of your health and stre- “

 

“There’s a ghost, okay, I know it!” Ares cuts him off. Seliph shrugs.

 

“I’m just reading what the site’s saying,” he defends. Ares glowers.

 

“Seliph, I know you’re not stupid- “

 

“Okay then!” Seliph starts speaking loudly, drowning out Ares. “Have you tried ignoring it? Says that spirits thrive off attention and might go away if you don’t acknowledge them.”

 

“I don’t want any more fucking broken windows,” Ares tells him straight. He crosses his arms. “Do your shitty site have like, a faster method- “

 

“Wikihow isn’t shitty, Ares, and you’re just bitter that they draw better than you.”

 

“What the fuck did you just say?”

 

“Anyway,” Seliph turns back to the computer, and Ares grabs the back of his chair. “Seliph, if you just fucking implied that I draw worse than fucking Wikihow- “

 

“ANYWAY,” Seliph repeats, louder this time, and Ares shakes the back of his chair angrily. “Okay, method two. ‘Performing a home spirit cleansing’. Step one, have some religious or spiritual talismans. Ares, do you- “

 

“I don’t believe in God,” Ares tells him bluntly. Seliph gives him a sarcastic smile.

 

“Ares,” he says, slowly, clearly, enunciating every syllable. “We’re looking up how to exorcise a ghost right now.”

 

“…So?” Ares asks, raising an eyebrow. Seliph stares at him silently, and Ares shifts uncomfortably at the unspoken judgement. “Seriously, I don’t see the link.”

 

Seliph looks down, and if Ares strains his ears, he can faintly make out an “Oh my god” or something along those lines coming from Seliph’s mouth. He’s not sure, though. Ares narrows his eyes at his boyfriend anyway.

 

“Listen, I’ve already told you before about this, so if you’re going to start on me _now_ ,” he says. A warning note in his voice, because Seliph is beautiful and lovely and amazing but also Ares is not going to fucking hesitate, bitch.

 

“I don’t mean that,” Seliph says, sounding exasperated, and then he sighs. “Okay fine then, then how about something you have like,” he glances at the website, “faith in, or something?”

 

“…” Ares is silent. Then he lights up. “Oh!” he grins, a childishly excited expression taking over his face as the object in mind comes to his thoughts. “I got it!”

 

“..??” Seliph says, or something along those lines. Like, the audio version of it. Ares leaves the living room, and Seliph can faintly hear banging and crashing somewhere in the house. He furrows his brows in confusion, and when Ares makes his way back, an uncharacteristically bright grin on his face, Seliph opens his mouth to ask and then spots the object in Ares’s hands. His mouth stays open, but no sound comes out.

 

“I know, right,” says Ares, as he brandishes his sword.

 

“…What the fuck,” Seliph says.

 

“It’s called Mystletainn,” Ares announces proudly, stroking the blade like he’d stroke the stray cats hanging around Seliph’s house. Seliph stares, mouth still gaping.

 

“Why do you have a sword,” he asks, aghast, concern seeping into his voice. “I. Ares. Have you actually killed someone bef- “

 

“Shut up, I haven’t,” Ares interrupts. “Die.”

 

“Don’t say that when you’re holding a very real and a very dangerous sword in your hands?”

 

“Coward,” Ares accuses, and Seliph just shakes his head in disbelief. Ares puffs his cheeks out, and it’d be cute, except he’s also holding a sword and has known anger management issues.

 

“Oh my god,” Seliph mutters. “My boyfriend is a serial killer.”

 

“I am _not,_ excuse you,” Ares scoffs. “Listen, this sword is a family heirloom- “

 

“-and it’s going to be your ‘talisman’,” Seliph finishes, suddenly feeling exhausted.

 

“-and it’s going to be my talisman,” Ares echoes, nodding along. Seliph is momentarily silent, before flipping a hand up into the air.

 

“Uh,” he says. “Sure, I guess. Anyway. Next, ask the spirit to leave.”

 

“I lost count of how many times I’ve told it to get the fuck out,” Ares responds. “So, step complete.”

 

“No,” says Seliph. Ares makes a face. “It has to be polite.”

 

“I very politely told it to get the fuck out.”

 

“Ares, don’t lie to me. You were shouting, I bet.”

 

“Okay, fine, I very politely shouted at it to get the fuck out,” Ares rolls his eyes. Seliph raises an eyebrow, and Ares scowls back. “Don’t look at me like that. People can be loud and polite.”

 

“Not you,” Seliph shoots, and Ares concedes the point by huffing silently and looking away. “You have to avoid anger or fear, or something. And that you mean it no harm- “

 

“Like hell, Mystletainn is going to get put into use, no way around it- “

 

“ _That you mean it no harm_ ,” Seliph repeats, continuing to read. “And that this world is not its place anymore. Also, there’s some Latin rites. Here.”

 

Seliph points and Ares peers at the screen, putting Mystletainn down on the counter for a moment. Seliph very slightly and cautiously inches away from it.

 

“Ecce crucis signum, fugiant phantasmata cuncta,” Ares recites, squinting. Seliph makes a face.

 

“Your pronunciation is completely off,” he tells Ares, and Ares flips him off.

 

“I don’t think the ghost took fuckin’ Latin like a goddamn weirdo, so who cares,” he says. Seliph looks at Ares, expression one of offended aghast.

 

“I took Latin!”

 

“Well, you’re a goddamn weirdo,” Ares tells Seliph. Seliph frowns. Ares turns back to the screen, says the chant once again for good measure, then pauses. “Is it gone yet,” he then asks.

 

The window breaks.

 

“I don’t think so,” says Seliph, stating the obvious. “Also, I think you just pissed it off more.”

 

“Probably because I spoke Latin to it like it was a goddamn weir- “

 

“Stop,” Seliph says. “Just. Stop.”

 

Ares stops. Seliph puts his face in his hands, and Ares allows the moment of peace. And then Seliph looks back at the computer screen, and scrolls down with only a hint of regret. Maybe more. Maybe a lot more. Probably a lot more.

 

“Light a sage smudge stick, and carry it around the house,” Seliph reads. Both he and Ares go silent, again.

 

“What the fuck is a sage smudge stick,” Ares is the one to break the quiet. Seliph furrows his brow, peering at the screen to read.

 

“Uh, apparently it’s like a stick,” he says. “Made of sage leaves. And you light it? Anyway, it also says that you can crush dried sage in a bowl and light that instead, which sounds far more convenient, so, y’know.”

 

Ares licks his lips, staring at the screen blankly. Seliph glances up at him.

 

“…You do have sage, don’t you?” he asks warily. Ares doesn’t respond. Seliph opens his mouth. Seliph closes his mouth. Then he opens it again. “Okay, wow.”

 

“Shut,” says Ares, and he licks his lips again, “the fuck up.”

 

Twenty minutes later, and they’re both stumbling back into the house after an extremely rushed grocery run. Seliph is red and panting. Ares exercises, so he isn’t. He glances at Seliph and snorts, and Seliph pouts, swatting Ares’s arm.

 

“Okay, we just need a bowl, right?” Ares asks, already heading to the kitchen. Seliph fights the urge to lie down and sleep for an eternity, and follows. It doesn’t take long to crush the dried sage, and then Ares is taking out his lighter (“I didn’t know you smoked.” “I don’t.” “…Then why do you have a lighter in your pocke- “) and burning it. It crackles and sparks, and the aroma fills the room.

 

“I hate vegetables,” Ares comments, and Seliph punches him lightly in the arm for that. They walk around the house for a bit, let the smell flow through its entirety. Sage leaves burn to ashes in the bowl, and acridity fills their noses; smoke in the air and a cough in their throats.

 

“It’s like your goth high school phase all over again,” says Seliph.

 

“Shut up,” says Ares.

 

It seems fine until they walk back to the living room, and the couch is blocking the door. So that’s that.

 

“Well, it is only step three,” Seliph says, but reluctance and resignation are seeping into his tone. Ares snorts.

 

“Wikihow,” he mutters spitefully. Seliph sighs. Ares rolls his eyes. “Okay, okay, fine, we’ll look at the next step.”

 

Seliph googles the site on his phone, while Ares _googles how to tell boyfriend that wikihow sucks without hurting his feelings_. Seliph is successful. Ares is not.

 

“Holy water,” is all Seliph can get out, before Ares tells him, “Shut the fuck up, we’re doing something else.” And when the cupboard wobbles and topples and almost crushes Seliph beneath it, Seliph agrees.

 

 

“Why do you have a Ouija board in your basement?” Seliph asks warily, as Ares dusts said Ouija board off. Ares just scoffs.

 

“Don’t worry about that,” he dismisses, and then turns to Seliph with narrowed eyes. “More importantly, are _you_ alright? Don’t think I forgot about the cupboard shit. You almost died.”

 

“You’re exaggerating,” Seliph frowns. “I’d just have broken some bones at the worst.”

 

Ares stares at him dubiously, then just shakes his head, sighing as he sets the Ouija board down. Seliph’s frown only deepens.

 

“I’m serious,” he insists. And that’s when Ares turns back to him, eyes blazing, and a scowl set firmly on his face. Seliph flinches back, slightly.

 

“I’m serious too,” says Ares, his tone brooking no argument. Seliph averts his gaze from Ares’s, discomfort overtaking his body. He brings up an arm to hook over his chest, feels the way Ares’s eyes follow him like a hawk.

 

“Whatever,” he mutters, like Ares would normally do whenever Seliph called him out. There’s something to be said about the tables turning in this case, but Seliph doesn’t say it. Then he laughs, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, and everything seems back to normal. “Ahh, what are we even talking about anyway? Let’s calm down, alright, we’re literally discussing ghosts here…”

 

Ares frowns.

 

“Ridiculous as it sounds, we both know that we can’t take this lightly,” he lectures, but Seliph just chuckles good-naturedly. “Seliph!”

 

“You worry too much,” Seliph waves him off. “So, I googled how to use a Ouija board- “

 

“-did you use Wikihow again- “

 

“-and so, I brought some candles- “

 

“-Seliph, did you use Wikihow again- “

 

“-and it also says that we have to place the board on our knees as we sit toge- “

 

“-Seliph I am fucking begging you, okay not really I’ll never beg, but Seliph, don’t use fucking dare to use Wikihow,” Ares not-begs. Pleads, almost. All Seliph does in response is puff his cheeks out, in a vague estimate of a pout.

 

“I already prepared everything, though,” he complains, and holds up some real talismans. “Look, Aideen gave these to me and all.”

 

“I’m disgusted,” Ares says, but doesn’t do anything as Seliph begins preparing the area with a hum. He watches with resigned, dead eyes, and hands over his lighter when Seliph asks for it. The candle lights with a blaze, and the talismans scattered around glow a faint orange from the flames. Ares gets into the position Seliph guides him into.

 

The board settles on top of their touching knees. Wooden and scratched, but real all the same. The planchette lies atop the “G” as it should, and Seliph claps him hands together.

 

“Okay, I’ll be the medium, since it says that we have to be polite and stuff,” he declares. Ares only mildly glowers at the unsaid implication. Mildly.

 

“Is that safe,” he asks warily. Seliph snorts.

 

“Aren’t you supposed to be the reckless one,” he teases, and Ares frowns. Doesn’t say the “Not when it comes to you,” that he’s thinking. Seliph takes his non-answer with a smile, then starts his “ritual”, or whatever.

 

“Hi, spirit, sorry to bother you, but do you mind if we ask you a few questions?” he asks cheerfully.

 

“Wow, and here I was expecting Latin,” Ares mutters, only a slight tint of bitterness in his tone.

 

“Shhh,” Seliph shushes, then puts his finger on the planchette. Ares follows, a heartbeat later.

 

“I’m going to start asking questions now,” Seliph whispers.

 

“Why are you whispering,” Ares asks, decidedly not whispering. Seliph glares at him.

 

“We have to set up a good atmosphere!” he hisses. “Anyway, we have to start off simple, so I’ll ask its name, okay?’

 

“Mn.”

 

“Spirit,” Seliph says, and he’s not whispering this time. Ares could call him out for hypocrisy, but he figures that Seliph’d probably have a comeback for that as well, so. Debate club has served him well, Ares has learned over the years. “What is your name?”

 

There’s a pause. And then the planchette starts moving. Ares almost rears back and jumps in surprise.

 

“Holy shit it actually worked,” Seliph says as well, too shocked to continue whispering, it seems. They stare as the planchette moves slowly to L, E, I, F. They both blink.

 

“That’s a weird fucking name,” Ares says eventually. “It’s like leaf.”

 

“Be polite!”

 

In seeming response to Ares’s snide comment, the candle flame flickers, almost blowing out from an invisible wind. Almost, but not quite.

 

_“Ares.”_

 

“It’s not my fault!” he argues. Seliph snorts, and if it were not for the whole Ouija board thing, Ares would have punched him here and now. As it is, though, he settles for a scowl and dagger eyes.

 

“Anyway,” Seliph coughs into his free fist. “Uh. Spirit! What do you want from us?”

 

“Tell it to get the fuck out, Seliph.”

 

“I am not telling it that!”

 

The planchette is moving again. Ares and Seliph fall into silence, staring at the planchette as it moves underneath their fingers. P, it goes. E. R. F. E. C. T. I. O. N.

 

In the silence that follows, Ares swallows.

 

“Perfection,” Seliph recites slowly. “What does that…”

 

“Ask,” Ares hisses, now feeling even more uneasy about this than before. Seliph visibly gulps, his adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.

 

“Spi- Leif,” he corrects himself. “What is perfection?”

 

A pause. S, and Ares stops. E, and when he looks up, Seliph is frozen. L, and that’s when Ares forces their hands to the “GOODBYE” inscribed onto the board before flipping said board over, and onto the floor.

 

They sit in silence.

 

“…Wikihow says that you shouldn’t damage the board because it might anger the spirit.”

 

“Shut the fuck up,” Ares tells Seliph, and if his voice is shaking, Seliph doesn’t say anything.

 

 

Ares decides to try the whole “ignore the spirit and hope it goes away” thing.

 

“That sounds suspiciously like denial,” says Seliph, and Ares points out that it was one of the methods stated on his precious fucking Wikihow article. Seliph makes a face and Ares gloats only a little, before Seliph sighs. “I have to go, Julia and Julius are coming over today,” he apologises. Ares huffs.

 

“You have this stupid habit of apologising for things that aren’t your fault, you know?” Ares complains, leaning against the doorway as Seliph stands on the porch. “Stupid. You’re better than you think you are.”

 

Seliph grins.

 

“Aww,” he teases, “aren’t you sweet.”

 

Ares flushes and looks away.

 

“Shut up and just host your cousins already, okay!” he crosses his arms, and, not that he’ll ever admit it, pouts. Seliph giggles.

 

“Stay safe,” he says, and Ares smirks as he points to Mystletainn. Seliph shakes in head in amused resignation, before leaning in to kiss Ares’s cheek. “Seriously, I’m worr- “

 

Right beside Seliph, the railing comes crashing down. Seliph and Ares leap out of the way, eyes wide, heart stuttering in their chests. There’s a crash, then an eerie silence. Seliph swallows.

 

“Ares,” he murmurs, and Ares looks away.

 

“I think you should go back,” he says, tone going flat, and Seliph frowns.

 

“Come with me,” Seliph offers, but Ares still doesn’t look at him.

 

“Leave,” he says, and Seliph does, with reluctance. When Seliph is gone, Ares stops staring after his back, and re-enters his house. He lets out a huge sigh, then flops onto the couch.

 

Seliph left his jacket on the couch, Ares realises sleepily. Ah, he’ll call him later…

 

 

When Ares wakes up, the jacket is gone.

 

mystletainn★: so, like

mystletainn★: it’s been 2 weeks

mystletainn★: but i think the ghost is only getting angrier

mystletainn★: im broke

mystletainn★: everything is breaking

mystletainn★: also i still haven’t found your jacket sorry

light: it’s fine!! ;o

light: have u found my headphones tho

mystletainn★: no sorry

light: hm!

light: aghh whys ur ghost stealing all my stuff!! (ง'̀-'́)ง

light: im going to go over there and punch it

mystletainn★: DONT

light: haha

mystletainn★: it’ll try to kill you again

light: ehhhh :/ i wanna go over to ur house again tho lol

mystletainn★: i go over to yours, though

light: haha true

light: you could like

light: move in ;000

light: lol but i kno u dont want to so hh

light: owo

light: hi

light: hello?

light: ares?

mystletainn★: sorry i was zoning out

light: aaaaa u scared me!! ;w;

light: i thot the ghost got u

mystletainn★: no way

mystletainn★: im not gonna get done in by some shitty ghost lmaoo

light: hmm… :///

mystletainn★: seliph.

light: haha jk

light: ofc u be fine!! ;p

mystletainn★: h

mystletainn★: <3

light: !!!

light: <3<3<3<3

mystletainn★: ah

light: dont reply or well get stuck in the loop again!!

mystletainn★: heh

mystletainn★: anyway like

mystletainn★: it’s getting really annoying

mystletainn★: so i was thinking

light: ;o?

mystletainn★: you mind calling in a favour from miss aideen?

 

 

“Ares!” Aideen beams as Ares opens the door. Before he can even react, she throws her arms around him, and Ares has no choice but to relax into her hug. Unwittingly, he smiles, and Seliph grins over Aideen’s shoulder at him. “You poor dear. I hear you’re being haunted by some awful spirit.”

 

“A-Ah,” Ares says, rubbing the back of his head and putting on an awkward smile as Aideen releases him. Seliph smirks at him, and if it weren’t for Aideen staring at him with those wide, sharp eyes, he’d glare back. “Y-Yeah.”

 

“Well, don’t worry your little head about it, alright?” Aideen soothes. “Auntie Aideen will take care of all of it!”

 

I am twenty-four, Ares could say. I am a mature, working adult, Ares could say.

 

“Th-Thanks, Miss Aideen,” he says instead, his incredibly awkward smile widening until it starts to hurt. Behind Aideen, Seliph snorts quietly. Aideen coos at Ares one last time, then strides into his house like a woman on a mission. Ares almost collapses when she disappears into the corridor, smile instantly dropping and body slumping. A great sigh makes its way out of his mouth, and Seliph snickers.

 

“You’re still awkward around Aunt Aideen, huh?” he comments, and Ares shoots him a look.

 

“Shut up, you could have helped me back there,” he snarls. Seliph laughs, unphased.

 

“You don’t have to worry anymore, though,” he says. “Aunt Aideen’ll take care of it!”

 

“I hope so,” Ares mutters, but there’s a sinking feeling in his gut that this isn’t over.

 

 

mystletainn★: so when i came back today the couch was literally gone

mystletainn★: like i shit you not, it’s fucking gone

light: oh nooooo

mystletainn★: listen

mystletainn★: seliph

light: ??

mystletainn★: i

mystletainn★: think

light: what??????/

mystletainn★: maybe i should move in after all

light: a

mystletainn★: yeah

mystletainn★: so uh

light: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

light: IM SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mystletainn★: i have been literally driven out of my house by a ghost.

light: well that part sucks but now UR MOVING IN!!!!!!!

light: :DDDDDDDDD

mystletainn★: I SAID IM THINKING ABOUT IT

mystletainn★: but uh

mystletainn★: yeah

mystletainn★: probably

light: :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

mystletainn★: stop that

light: :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

mystletainn★: if you keep doing that then i’m not moving in

light: DDDDDDDDDDDDD:

mystletainn★: ://

 

 

“…Don’t smile like that,” says Ares when he opens the door to reveal a beaming Seliph. “You know, right after I texted you, all the lights in my house went out.”

 

“That’s a sign,” Seliph nods sagely. “That you should move out right away!”

 

“What do you think I called you over here for, idiot,” mutters Ares. But he’s smiling too. “Here, let’s just start packing the small things- “

 

“I’ll take the living room, then,” Seliph chirps. “You worry about your room!”

 

Ares frowns.

 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to split up,” he says, wary. Seliph pouts.

 

“It’ll be faster,” he coaxes. “C’mon, Ares, I can take care of myself.”

 

“No,” Ares staunchly refuses, crossing his arms over his chest, and Seliph sighs, giving on.

 

“Okay, fine,” he says. Then he lights up. “Oh, let’s start with your bedroom. I bet we’ll find some really nice stuff there, huh?”

 

Ares blushes, but scowls all the same. Seliph giggles, and Ares swats him one.

 

“Ugh, don’t even imply that,” he says, as they begin walking. “Pornography is tasteless.”

 

“I wasn’t talking about porn, you repressed baby,” Seliph rolls his eyes, and Ares almost chokes. He whips his head around to stare, aghast, at Seliph, who looks back challengingly, gaze firm.

 

“I am not repre- “

 

“Yes, you are,” Seliph insists, and Ares scoffs as he glances away. “But anyway, I wasn’t talking about pornography. I was thinking more along the lines of embarrassing things from childhood, like maybe a full set of goth attire...?”

 

“Fat chance, I threw that shit out.”

 

“So, you did have goth shit!”

 

“Seliph, you knew that already. Highschool wasn’t _that_ long ago.”

 

“Still…”

 

They pause as Ares opens his bedroom door, and they step into the room. Seliph looks around, while Ares freezes in place. And that’s when Seliph looks at the bed and notices just what stunned Ares; a single black rose, lying in the centre of the bedsheets. Seliph blinks.

 

“…You know, I was joking when I was talking about finding your goth stuff,” he says after a moment of silence. Ares doesn’t reply. “…Ares?”

 

“I,” he says. Stops. Continues. “Don’t own that. That’s not. Supposed to be there.”

 

They’re both silent for a moment.

 

“You’re thinking what I’m thinking?” Ares asks.

 

“The ghost is a romantic, huh,” Seliph says.

 

“…Close enough,” Ares replies grimly. They stare, wary. “I… Do you think it’s safe to touch?”

 

Seliph helplessly shrugs. Ares cautiously inches forward, hands held in front of him like a makeshift barrier. Seliph watches from the back. Slowly, Ares leans down, stretches out a hand, and touches the rose-

 

Seliph screams.

 

Ares jumps and turns, rose forgotten in his mad worry. “Seliph?” he calls out, immediately, frantically.

 

Seliph is gone. And when Ares turns back around, eyes flicking everywhere in a panic, he notices that the rose is gone too.

 

 

“You worried me, you know,” Ares says.

 

Seliph smiles from the hospital bed.

 

“But nothing bad happened in the end, so it’s fine,” he cajoles. Ares glares. “Aw, come on, don’t glare at me like that! I don’t even have to be here!”

 

Ares snarls, and grabs Seliph’s hand. Seliph’s eyes widen, and a silence fills the room.

 

“Don’t,” Ares says, and his voice is raw. “Ever scare me like that again.”

 

A beat passes. Seliph breathes in, and out.

 

“I won’t,” he says.

 

“Good,” Ares tells him curtly. And then he hugs him, hands gripping the back of Seliph’s gown tightly, face smothered in Seliph’s chest. “…I love you.”

 

Brown eyes widen in surprise, then soften. Seliph smiles, small and real.

 

“I love you too,” he says.

**Author's Note:**

> https://www.wikihow.com/Exorcise-Your-House-or-Dwelling is the exorcism wikihow article, and yes, it’s real


End file.
